Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for IGHTHAM

IGHTHAM, a village and a parish in Malling district, Kent. The village stands near the railway from Otford to Maidstone, 2½ miles SW by S of Wrotham, and 4½ N E of Sevenoaks; was anciently called Eightham; was once a market town; and has now a post office under Sevenoaks, and a fair on Whit-Wednesday. The parish contains also the hamlets of Moat, Ivy-Hatch, Redwell, Oldbury, and part of Borough-Green. Acres, 2, 5 40. Real property, £5, 039. Pop., 1, 152. Houses, 227. The property is divided among a few. The manor belonged to the Crevequiers, the Criols, the Inges, the Zouches, and others; and passed to the Jameses. There is a nursery ground. A Roman vicinal way passed through, and has left traces of its course in the names Oldbury and Stone street. A Roman camp, of irregular form, and enclosing about 137 acres, is on Oldbury Hill; has a single vallum; and contains, near the centre, two fine springs. A cave, mostly filled by sinking of the earth, is said to exist on the brow of the hill. A building, called the Moat, stands in a ravine of the Weald, about 2 miles S of the village; took its name from a moat around it, kept full of water by the flow of a streamlet; and forms an excellent specimen of the fortified mansion of former times. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Canterbury. Valne, £510. * Patron, T. Coleman, Esq. The church is ancient bnt good; includes portions from Norman to later English; consists of nave, aisle, and chancel, with embattled tower; and contains a brass of about 1530, and monuments of the 17th century to the Selbys of Moat. There are a Wesleyan chapel, a national school, and charities £15.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a village and a parish"   (ADL Feature Type: "populated places")
Administrative units: Ightham CP/AP       Malling RegD/PLU       Kent AncC
Place names: EIGHTHAM     |     IGHTHAM
Place: Ightham

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